The Charlie Brown balloon floats in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade put a festive mood in the air in a city still coping with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy (AP Photo/Charles Sykes) / AP

Spectators watch as balloons pass by Herald Square during the 86th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday in New York. The parade created a festive mood in a city still coping with the aftermath of superstorm Sandy. / Associated Press

The Sonic the Hedgehog balloon makes it's way along New York's Central Park South during the 86th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Thursday Nov. 22, 2012, in New York. The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade put a festive mood in the air in a city still coping with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg) / AP

More

ADVERTISEMENT

NEW YORK — Victims of superstorm Sandy in New York and elsewhere in the Northeast were comforted Thursday by kinder weather, free holiday meals and — for some — front row seats to the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“It means a lot,” said Karen Panetta, of the hard-hit Broad Channel section of Queens, as she sat in a special viewing section set aside for New Yorkers displaced by the storm.

“We’re thankful to be here and actually be a family and to feel like life’s a little normal today,” she said.

The popular Macy’s parade, attended by more than 3 million people and watched by 50 million on TV, included such giant balloons as Elf on a Shelf and Papa Smurf, a new version of Hello Kitty, Buzz Lightyear, Sailor Mickey Mouse and the Pillsbury Doughboy.

Weather cooperates

The young and the young at heart were delighted by the sight and sound of marching bands, performers and, of course, the giant balloons.

The sunny weather quickly surpassed 50 degrees.

Alan Batt and his 11-year-old twins, Kyto and Elina, took in the parade at the end of the route, well away from the crowd and seemingly too far away for a good view.

But they had an advantage: Two tall stepladders they hauled over from their apartment eight blocks away — one for each twin.

“We’re New Yorkers,” the 65-year-old Batt said.

“We know what we’re doing.”

With the height advantage, “I get to see everything!” Kyto said.

At nearby Greeley Square, social worker Lowell Herschberger, 40, of Brooklyn, sought in vain to tear his sons, 8-year-old Logan and 6-year-old Liam, from a foosball table set up in the tiny park as the balloons crept by on the near horizon.

On Long Island, the Long Beach nonprofit Surf For All hosted a Thanksgiving event that fed 1,200 people. Carol Gross, 72, a Long Beach native, said she went to volunteer but was turned away because of a surplus of helpers.

“A lot of people like me, old-timers, we’ve never seen anything like this horror,” she said, recalling the destruction.

Gross’ brother, Jerry, who moved to Arizona in the 1960s, was stunned by what he saw when he returned for Thanksgiving.

“To come back and see the boardwalk all devastated like it is, it’s like going to Manhattan and finding Times Square gone,” he said.

Community heals

George Alvarez, whose Toms River home suffered moderate damage when Sandy hit the coast, said his family usually does “the traditional big dinner” on Thanksgiving.

But this year, they chose to attend a community dinner held at an area church.

“This storm not only impacted us, it impacted a lot of our friends, our community, our psyche,” Alvarez said shortly before his family headed out for their meal.

“We could have had our usual dinner here at home, but this year it felt like we should be with others who are experiencing the same concerns we are. We made it through this devastating storm, and that’s something to celebrate.”